War of the Gods: The Quest Begins
by John The Adventurer
Summary: After the appearance of the James, the newcomer to Camp Half-Blood, everything changed. Now the worlds of the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and even angels are colliding, and our heroes, James, Percy, Jason, and Carter have been called on a quest to save the world from an oncoming evil greater than any they have yet to face. Sequel to War of the Gods: Game Changer.
1. Introduction

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Introduction: Previously, on War of the Gods

**PERCY**

Camp Half-Blood has gotten a new camper, a seven feet tall guy named James. But James is no ordinary camper. Instead of being the son of a Greek god like the rest of us, James is a Nephilim, half human, half angel. This news struck camp like a lightning bolt. Until he showed up, we had never even considered the possibility of angels. If that wasn't bad enough, his appearance was soon followed by the appearance of a mist-shrouded figure foretelling doom and destruction for everyone. So, following the words of a prophecy, Jason, the son of Jupiter, James, and I are going on a quest, along with an Egyptian sorcerer named Carter, who I had met once before.

. . . . .

**CARTER**

A little over a month ago I encountered a boy named Percy who had a magical sword and crazy water powers. When we parted ways I drew a hieroglyph on his hand so he could call me when he needed me. Since then me and my sister Sadie have been trying to find out more about him and his fellow "campers". We discovered that they were really the children of the Greek gods, which conquered Egypt centuries ago. After an encounter with a fog-covered shadow man I felt Percy activating the hieroglyph, calling me to his aid. I am coming to help, even though I have no idea what may be in store for me when I get there.


	2. Chapter 1: Off We Go

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 1: Off We Go

**CARTER**

I flew over Long Island in our reed boat, which I had hitched to the back of Freak, our griffon. Unlike the gryphons of fantasy games, Freak had the head of a falcon and wings like a hummingbird's, except that they beat faster and more powerful than helicopter wings. As we flew toward the call, I contemplated my decision to come. I had left the Brooklyn House abruptly, telling Sadie I "needed to do something". I knew that it would have to be something pretty bad for Percy to feel the need to call me, but I wasn't sure I was making the right decision. What if he was leading me into a trap? No, I had felt his urgency in the call, and I knew from our last encounter that he wasn't that type of person.

Whatever it was, it was important. He needed my help. And for what? Was I going to find myself in the middle of a battle against a titan or something? Or was I finally going to see this camp of his? I knew he wouldn't try to cause me harm, but what about his fellow "campers"? How did I know that they were all like him?

I was broken from these thoughts as I saw a flash of bronze light among the trees. I had flown over this area before, but there had never been anything here. Perhaps he had simply wanted a neutral meeting place? Or maybe a good place for an ambush?

My breath was taken away as a veil seemed to be lifted from my eyes. Suddenly a large section of trees expanded and then vanished, revealing an entire valley that had not been there before. From where I stood in my reed boat I could see a rock wall(which appeared to be spewing lava), a massive arena, and a large collection of Greek-looking buildings. There was a lot more than that, but at the time I was too shocked at seeing any of it to take it all in.

"Wow," I murmured. "That's some camp."

I directed Freak to land on a hill on the edge of the camp, where I could see a small gathering of people around a single large pine tree. That was where the flash of bronze, and the hieroglyph's call, was coming from. As I neared the ground, I saw some of the people in the gathering weren't exactly **people**. Did that guy over there have horns? And was that a **centaur**?

. . . . .

**JASON**

I watched warily as the craft landed and its unusual occupant exited. He looked to be of African descent, with brown skin and curly brown hair. He wore regular clothes one would expect to find on a teenage boy, but his weapons were definitely not regular. He held a sword with a strangely bent blade in his right hand and a slightly curved stick in his left that appeared to be made of ivory. Percy had told us all about his encounter with this kid and had said that we could trust him, but I wasn't so sure. Every fiber of my being told me that this was my enemy.

"Hey there," the boy said, "I'm Carter. Nice to meet you all."

Chiron stepped up to him, offering him his hand. "I am Chiron, the activities director here at Camp Half Blood. You may have also noticed that I am a centaur."

"Camp Half-Blood, huh?" he asked, eyeing the dragon winding itself around Thalia's Tree warily. "And yah, I think I noticed."

"It's good to see you again," Percy said, shaking his hand. "But I didn't call you here for the sightseeing."

"I hope not," Carter answered. "That was a one-time deal. I did say only to use it in an extreme emergency. I wouldn't be all too happy if you dragged me all this way for nothing."

"Come on then," Percy told him. "We've got a lot to tell you."

Percy began to explain the situation to him, the others filling in when needed. I hung back, watching the newcomer intently. I didn't know exactly who he was, but I didn't trust him. I usually trusted my instincts, and they were telling me that he wasn't to be trusted.

. . . . .

**CARTER**

"So…" I began. "Angels?"

"Yep," Percy answered.

"And we have to save the world from something that wants to destroy Rome, Greece, Egypt, **AND **Heaven."

"Yep."

I sat there for a moment, thinking. I glanced over at James, having to look up because of his height. He was impressive sure, but the son of the Archangel Michael? A real, actual **angel**? This was bigger than anything I had ever seen before. Of course, I had saved the world several times now, but this collection of cultures couldn't be a good thing.

Was I really going to join them on the words of some strange prophecy? I looked around at their collective faces. Percy looked determined, James looked somewhat confused, and Jason looked more angry than anything else. Were these to be my traveling companions? Could we do this? More importantly, could we do this without killing each other?

"Then let's get going," I told them. "We can take my boat, unless you have a better means of transportation."

"There's the Argo II, but that's Leo's baby," Percy answered. "I don't think it would be a good idea to take it on a voyage without him, and the prophecy said that it could only be the four of us."

I had no idea what the Argo II was, or who Leo was, but I got the gist. "Let's go then."

"What about the hummingbird?" James asked, glancing at Freak's razor-sharp wings.

"It'll be fine," I answered. "As long as you don't get too close."


	3. Chapter 2: Battle of the Smoke Men

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 2: Battle of the Smoke Men

**JAMES**

"Where are we heading?" Percy asked the group as the griffon took off, dragging the boat behind it.

"Utah," I answered. Everyone looked at me, but no one was more shocked than I was. I hadn't tried to say anything, the words just came out. "I don't know how I know," I continued, "but that is where we need to go."

"Okay then," Carter said, changing the boat's course. "Utah it is."

I sat in the back of the boat, thinking about all that had happened in such a short time. My life had never been normal, certainly, but this was something else entirely. Angels? Gods? Quests? This was more like something out of a storybook than reality. And then there was the question of my powers. I'm a big guy, but the strength that I had been feeling was something more. When I fought the Cyclops and when I sparred with Percy, I felt something powerful within me. I was faster, I was stronger, and my thoughts were clearer than ever before. And then there was the water and the spear. Somehow, I still didn't know how, I had moved them just by willing them to move.

What did all this mean? What was I becoming?

. . . . .

**JASON**

The journey was pretty uneventful until the smoke demons showed up. We had been flying for two days, and all of us were getting pretty bored. We had made several stops to get food, the mortals not noticing the flying boat or the razor-winged griffon. But then again, they never did. The Mist keeps regular mortals from seeing magical things the way they really are. For all we know, they could have seen the boat and bird as a fancy corvette. So when the guy at the counter noticed not only the boat, but also my Imperial Gold gladius, I knew something was wrong.

I was in a gas station by the side of a highway somewhere in Iowa, picking up some food while the others waited in the boat. The person at the counter looked ordinary enough, with plain brown hair and a farmer's tan.

"Will that be all sir?" he asked as he bagged the food. "You know, I think you should get that creature of yours more to eat. Pulling that boat around must be tiring."

I couldn't believe my ears. "What did you say?" I asked.

"You really should hide that thing better," he told me, gesturing to the gladius at my belt. "It draws attention to you."

"What are you?" I asked, backing away and pulling out my gladius.

"Nothing you know how to deal with," he answered, the black at the center of his eyes widening to fill the eyes entirely. I swung at him instinctively, but my sword passed through him harmlessly. He smiled at me wickedly. "Not going to work this time."

I sprinted outside, only to find more black-eyed humans collecting around the small building. "Let's get out of here!" I shouted, dashing to the boat. "I don't know what these things are, but my sword went right through one and it didn't do anything."

"That's because they're people," James answered. "Regular, ordinary mortals. You told me that your Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold weapons can't harm mortals."

"I don't know if you're paying attention," Percy said, "but those are definitely not people."

"Yes they are," James responded forcefully. "They're possessed. I've seen things like this before, but it's usually just one or two. These **are** ordinary people. They are being used as puppets by the demons possessing their bodies."

` "How do we kill them?" Carter asked, blasting away a collection of them that got too close.

"We don't," He answered. "Any damage we do to them we will actually be doing to the innocent mortals they are possessing. Plus, as long as the demon is possessing them they can't be killed by ordinary weapons, just damaged. If we had time to prepare we could set up some devil's traps and exorcise some of them, but we couldn't do much against a group this large."

"If you've got anything more helpful, now would be the time!" Percy exclaimed, washing away a group of them with water from a nearby hydrant.

"A circle of salt will keep them at bay," James answered. "But we don't exactly have all too much salt directly on hand."

Just then I had an idea. "Percy!" I shouted. "Can you work on a deeper level with your water?"  
"I'm not sure I know what you mean," he responded.

"Surround the boat with all the salt water you can, then take away the water and leave the salt behind!" I conjured a whirlwind, forcing more of the attacking demons away from the boat.

"I might be able to do it," he answered hesitantly. "But we don't have saltwater handy either."

"Yes we do," I answered. "Sweat. We are surrounded by a small army working desperately to get us, and we are getting a little sweaty ourselves trying to keep them away." As if to punctuate my statement, a ripple went through the air from James's direction, throwing more demon-possessed mortals flying away.

Percy closed his eyes and focused. The rest of us doubled our efforts as the demons began to get crazed, sensing that their quarry was close to escaping. Our sweat began to peel off of us, swirling in the air around the boat. It grew until a thin veil of sweaty water surrounded the boat completely. It wasn't much, but it was all we were getting. Draining off the last of the sweat from the attacking possessed, He sent it to the ground for a moment before shooting it into the air, far away from where they stood. Percy collapsed, a fine ring of salt now surrounding the boat where the water had been.

I wasn't sure that salt could really hold these things back, but it did. They couldn't pass the ring. Some of them appeared to be slamming themselves against an invisible barrier as they tried to cross. "Get this thing in the air!" I shouted to Carter. "We need to get out of here." We rose into the air, and at first I thought that we were free. But then the crowd opened their mouths, streams of black smoke swirling out and shooting towards us.

"What is that?!" Percy called out.

"The demons!" James answered. "Don't let them get close, or they'll possess you!"

The streams of black smoke shot towards the boat, dozens of them swirling together. One of them surged ahead of the others, and dived down towards me. I slashed at it instinctively with my gladius, dissolving it. "Guys!" I shouted. "We can kill them when they aren't possessing anyone!" We fought the swirls of demonic smoke, slashing with our weapons, Carter shouting the occasional gibberish and making glowing hieroglyphs appear in the air.

We had almost won when I turned around to see one of the swirls of smoke force its way down James's throat. He stood still for a moment before dropping his swords and opening his eyes, which were now black as pitch. "Now," the demon said with James's mouth, "you die." He stepped forward, only to suddenly convulse violently. He clutched his head as golden light suddenly blasted out of his eyes. He stood there clutching his head and screaming before collapsing to the deck, the rest of the smoke demons flying away in all directions.

Percy and I ran to James's prone form. I opened his eyes, which were now their normal golden color, oddly enough the same color as the light that had shot out of those same eyes. I slapped him in the face, but there was no response. "James?" I asked. "James, are you alright?" I checked his pulse and felt nothing. His heart had stopped.


	4. Chapter 3: War and Death (Almost)

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 3: Death and War (Almost)

**JAMES**

I fell into nothingness, the blackness swallowing me up. Then suddenly there was light, and I was alone in a field of white. Everywhere was golden light. A figure appeared before me, a man dressed in a completely white business suit, a man with golden hair and eyes that looked exactly like my own. He smiled warmly. "Hello, son."

"Dad?" I asked hesitantly. "Aren't you supposed to have wings and a halo or something?"

He laughed. "My true form is energy, celestial light. Many angels have chosen to take the form that we are commonly believed to have, but I personally prefer a more conservative form."

"So am I dead or something?" I inquired. "Is this Heaven? Because if so, I want a refund."

This elicited more laughter from him. "No, you are not dead my son, but you are near to death. This is the place in-between life and death. At this exact moment your friends are working to bring you back from the edge, so we have little time to speak. I wish I could tell you everything, but I cannot. All I can tell you is that when you reach Utah, you will meet a man named John in Salt Lake City. He will tell you what you need to know. Listen to him."

A shock suddenly went through me and the world shook. "Our time here is up," he told me. "Remember son, while I may not have been able to be there for you, I was watching over you, and I have always loved you." Another shock went through me and I was wretched away.

. . . . .

**JASON**

"You!" I shouted at Carter. "You're some sort of wizard, bring him back!"

"I- I can't," he answered hesitantly. "I'm a combat magician, not a healer. I can't bring him back."

"No!" I shouted. "We are not letting him die!" On my last quest I led seven demigods into the most dangerous sections of Italy and Greece and fought against giants and Gaea herself, and not one of them had died. I was not going to let James die here is Iowa of all places. I thought furiously, and then it hit me. "Step back," I told Percy and Carter. "Step back!"

They backed away, and I sent a quick prayer up to my dad on Olympus. _Please let this work,_ I begged. I called on my power and the sky began to rumble. Dark clouds gathered above the boat. Lighting shot from above and I slammed the pommel of my gladius into James's chest, channeling the lightning through my weapon into his stiff form. His body jerked, and I checked his pulse._ Nothing._ I called upon my power again and sent another burst of electricity into James's chest.

He rose with a gasp, collapsing immediately afterwards. I checked his heart, and it was beating steadily. I sat down, all of my energy drained. He was alive. Unconscious, but alive. It was too early in the quest for near-death experiences. I honestly hoped things were going better back at camp.

. . . . .

**LEO**

Back at camp, we were preparing for war. Annabeth wasn't happy that Percy had went on a quest without her, but we had more important things to worry about. Some of the creatures that James had told us about had begun to attack demigods that were away from camp, and other campers had spotted Egyptian monsters in the forests around the edge of camp. Piper had left camp to tell the Romans about what was happening, and had yet to return.

Annabeth readied the camp for the war that the prophecy had said was to come. The Athena kids designed and prepared fortifications, my fellow Hephaestus campers were working day and night on weapons, armor, and traps, while I worked on the Argo II and the rest of the camp spent all their time training. If war was coming, Annabeth was making sure that we would be ready.

I really wasn't so sure about the whole "war" thing. I would much rather **not** have a war. The last one wasn't all that fun. I was hoping that Percy and Jason would just finish the quest of theirs before anyone had to die, especially me. My only wonder was, now that we were friends with the Romans, who were we going to war against?

. . . . .

**SADIE**

"How much longer?" I asked angrily as I stomped through the Heliopolis in the First Nome. "Carter's been missing for days now!"

"We are doing all we can," Uncle Amos, now the High Lector, answered. "We are searching both the mortal world and the Duat. When we find him we will inform you."

"He vanished while we searching for information about a Greek demigod that he encountered," I told him. "His disappearance must have something to do with that."

"A what?" he questioned, a look of shock crossing over his face.

"A Greek demigod," I repeated. "They met and fought a while back, and ever since we've been searching for more information about them, and now he's gone missing."

"We have to inform the rest of the House of Life," he declared. "The Greeks already conquered Egypt once, and now they capture our pharaoh. We will find their base of operations and get Carter back, I promise you. They will not get away with this."

I stood there in the wake of his anger, not sure what to think. Had the Greeks really captured Carter? He didn't think they were like that, but were they? Would they do that if that was what it took to defeat the House of Life? More importantly, could they possibly be innocent? Did I just unleash the full fury of the House of Life against a camp full of unsuspecting teenagers?

. . . . .

**JAMES**

I woke up to the swaying of the boat, my companions ahead of me. "Where are we?" I asked as I forced myself up.

"You've been out for quite a while," Carter answered. "We've almost reached our destination."

I looked off the side of the boat, down through the clouds to a city far below. I could just barely make out a massive white building, topped with spires, one of which had a small golden statue on the top from which the sunlight glinted off of. I had seen it before on postcards, but I had never really paid much attention. Seeing it in person, I realized that it was a truly beautiful building. We were flying over the Mormon Salt Lake Temple. Somewhere in the streets below was a man named John who would tell us what we needed to do. I just hoped we could find him.

Author's note: I will be continuing this story, but I will not update it for the next few days. I have something special prepared for Elsa on Valentine's Day, and I will be using the weekend to write about how that works out. Hopefully nothing tries to ruin our holiday, but with our luck something is bound to go wrong. That story will be titled My Frozen Valentine, and will be the ninth story in the Adventures of John series, beginning sometime tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 4: John

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 4: John

Author's Note: I am sorry for not updating this story in so long. I expected to only have to halt work on this story long enough to finish writing what happened on Valentine's Day, but things didn't exactly go as planned. I kind of got sucked into a portal to an alternate reality, and from then on everything went crazy. When all of the craziness was finally over, I wanted to write it all down before I forgot anything important, and so my several day break from War of the Gods turned into more than a month's absence. Hopefully with the Void back to normal, things will be calm long enough for me to finish this story. With my track record, I doubt that will be happening, but we can always hope. Anyways, here for your reading pleasure is the most recent chapter of War of the Gods: The Quest Begins.

**JAMES**

We landed the ship in a parking lot, and though we got a few strange looks, no one questioned the flying boat, or the hummingbird gryphon. Carter was able to convince the creature to wait for us, but it didn't seem to be very happy about it. In fact, I'm fairly certain I saw it eyeing one family the same way I might eye a bacon cheeseburger.

"So what are we looking for?" Percy asked. "Who exactly is this John fellow?"

"You think I know?" I laughed. "My dad basically just said, 'Go to Utah, find John.' You know, you'd think an angel would be a bit more helpful, especially to his son."

"My dad's the king of Olympus," Jason muttered. "Trust me, I know the feeling."

"Enough griping about your parents already," Carter droned. "Let's split up and search the city. From what little we know, I'm going to guess that this John knows we are coming, so it shouldn't be long before one of us finds him."

"Alright then," Percy replied. "James, you go north, Carter, you go south, Jason, you go west, and I'll take the east." And with that he split up, heading out to scour the city for a man named John.

I hadn't heard much about Mormons, but what I had heard was strange. From what I had heard they didn't drink soda, always wore suits or dresses, had a dozen wives, and rode around on bikes. As I walked around the city I quickly decided all three of these things were not true. There were soda machines in the regular places and people walking around drinking soda, and while there were some men walking around in suits, and one pair of guys in nametags riding bikes, for the most part looked fairly normal. Also, there was no sign of any guys with a dozen wives. Honestly, from the few girls I do know, I have no idea why you'd want to have one wife, much less a dozen of them.

Some other things I had heard about Mormons were a little strange, but not all too much. I had heard that they didn't drink alcohol or smoke, but honestly that wasn't that strange to me. I had plenty of uncles and cousins who drink and smoke, but my mother had told me since I was little what those things can do to you, and I have no intention of getting lung cancer or liver disease. For the most part this seemed to be true. I saw very few people smoking, a lot less than you'd expect in a city this size, and I only came across one bar, and it wasn't in the better part of town.

After a while of searching I was beginning to get thirsty, and I spotted one of those internet cafés. I figured I would buy a bottle of water, rest for a bit, and then continue the search. Maybe John would just walk by and sit at my table, and the search could be done with. I walked into the café and was in line when the man in front of me turned around.

"Would you like me to buy you a drink?" he asked. "I'm not one for coffee, but the hot chocolate here is amazing. I looked at him, a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans. He had a head of short dark curls, tanned skin, and bright, piercing blue eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is John. I believe you've been looking for me."

. . . . .

**PERCY**

After three hours of scouring the city, I was beginning to think splitting up was a bad idea. Not only that, but we had forgotten to discuss how we would contact each other if one of us found John. For all I knew, one of us was chatting it up with John right now while the rest searched in vain. These Mormons weren't as strange as a lot of people claimed they were, but every once in a while I would see one of them staring at me from out of the corner of my eye. Whenever I turned my head though I couldn't see anything.

I continued walking, but I couldn't shake the sensation that someone was watching me. I went down the sidewalk, and then, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, I jumped into an alleyway and out of sight. I hopped behind a dumpster and waited. Before long I saw a teenage girl in a hoodie appear at the entrance of the alleyway, looking around inquisitively. I leaped out from behind the dumpster, pinning her against the wall and placing Riptide to her throat. "Who are you and why are you following me?!" I questioned.

"You know who we are," she answered, smiling malevolently as her eyes switched to black.

"What is it that you guys want?" I inquired. "What do you want with us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "We want the Nephilim. He is not one of you, he is not beholden to the Ancient Ones as you are. Leave him to us and we will allow you and your camps to live."

"I don't think you are in a position to be making threats," I informed her.

"That was not a threat," she countered. "It was a promise. Besides, that blade of yours can do no harm to me. I'm wearing a meat suit, remember? Besides, even if that blade of yours could hurt mortals, I don't think a hero like you would hurt this poor innocent girl." At that she smiled, the completely black eyes contrasting sharply with her somewhat childish face.

"We're not giving you James," I told her firmly, throwing her out of the alley. "Go tell that to your masters."

"Oh, I will," she chuckled, backing away slowly. "Though I doubt you'll like their response."

. . . . .

**CARTER**

"I don't like this," I muttered to myself. "Splitting up was a stupid idea. Why does Percy think he can just give us orders? I am the pharaoh, the rightful ruler of Egypt. What was he, other than the illegitimate son of some Greek sea god? I took part in defeating Apophis, the embodiment of Chaos itself! I should be the one leading this quest, not some Greek nobody.

I turned on my heels, heading east. I **was **going to be the leader of this quest. If Percy disagreed, then he was going to have to learn what it meant to be the pharaoh of the House of Life.

. . . . .

**JASON**

"We can't trust Carter," I muttered as I continued the fruitless search. "He is the enemy. Greece and Rome both conquered Egypt in the past. He's out for revenge, just waiting for a moment to strike." I mussed over this for a while, my thoughts getting consistently darker. "The ancient Romans were right to invade Egypt. They are all a bunch of slithering serpents. They can't be trusted. In fact, they should have burnt the whole kingdom to the ground. He would do it himself if he had to, starting with Carter.

. . . . .

**JAMES**

"Pretty good hot chocolate, right?" John asked as we sat down. "I've heard that the coffee here is good too, but I've never liked it. Too much caffeine doesn't agree with me."

"Who are you?" I asked, setting down my mug. "Why did my dad send me to find you?"

"You mean he didn't tell you?" he asked with a chuckle. "Angels can be so cryptic sometimes. It gets on your nerves a bit, doesn't it?"

"Can you please stop with the small talk and explain to me who you are?" I inquired, tired of his chatter.

"Just trying to have a conversation," he told me. "If you want to know who I am, you don't have to go any further than the New Testament."

"The New Testament?" I asked in disbelief. "As in the Bible?"

"Of course," he answered. "What other New Testament is there? Anyways, yes, my name is John. Me and my brother James, who you appear to be named after, were fishermen with our father Zebedee. Our lives were changed forever on the day that we met a humble carpenter from Galilee. He told us to follow him and become fishers of men."

"Wait," I interjected, shock filling my voice. "You are **that** John? One of the Twelve?" I hadn't studied my scriptures extensively, busy as I was hunting the creatures of darkness, but the quote "fishers of men" was something even I was able to recognize. "How could you be one of the Twelve Apostles?" I asked. "You would have to be over two thousand years old!"

"Way to make a guy feel old," he laughed. "Yes, I am one of the Twelve. These days a lot of people refer to me as John the Beloved. It's a bit ostentatious, but I admit that I am partly responsible for that. When I wrote down what would later be called the Gospel of John, I followed the example of my fellow disciples and referred to myself in the third person. I had a bit of a vain streak back then, so I referred to myself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. It wasn't inaccurate, I was one of his closest friends, but looking back I see I could have called myself something a little less ostentatious."

"But how are you alive?" I asked. "You should be dead!"

"In my writings I mentioned that when a group of his disciples were together, Jesus told us that some of us would not taste death. I also wrote that he said I would tarry until he came again." He paused, his eyes lost in old memories. "What I didn't write is that Christ had a meeting of his apostles and asked us which wanted to remain behind to preach his word, and which wanted to be able to die and receive our place in his kingdom upon our death. The others chose to die and return to Heaven sooner rather than later, while I chose to remain behind until Christ's return."

"Are there are others like you?" I asked.

"Well," he replied, "there is this trio of Nephites running around, but we don't cross paths very often."

"So now what?" I inquired. "Why did my dad send me to you?"

"The angels spend too much time up in Heaven," he answered. "They can watch everything that happens, but they don't have the sort of knowledge you can only get from spending all your time here on the ground floor."

"So what 'knowledge' do you have for me?" I questioned, getting tired of him taking forever to answer my questions.

"This isn't just a demon uprising," he answered. "I've seen plenty of those happen in the past. This is something more. Not only are the Seven Deadly Sins running amuck, but there are other things happening, things that make me suspect that there are forces trying to bring forth a dark and painful future before it is supposed to happen."

"What future?" I asked.

He began to answer but then cut off, turning his head to the side as if listening to something. "Go to your boat!" he said urgently. "Your friends are in grave danger!"

"From what?" I questioned, turning to the door.

"Themselves." I turned back to ask him what he meant, but when I did he was gone.


	6. Chapter 5: Conflict Erupts

War of the Gods: The Quest Begins

Chapter 5: Conflict Erupts

**PERCY**

I returned to the boat to find Carter waiting, standing with an aloof air. There was something strange about the way he was looking at me. It was as if I was nothing more than an insect to him. That was an expression I had never seen on him before. Something was not right here, but I couldn't tell exactly what.

"We need to talk," Carter said, looking down his nose at me despite my slight height advantage over him. "You have been out of your place. You should not be giving **me** orders. From this point on, **I** am running things now."

"Where did this come from?" I asked.

"You dared to order **ME** around!" he shouted. "I am the pharaoh of Egypt, you Greek slime, and I will not be ordered around by one such as you!"

"Calm down there," I responded, backing away slowly. "No one is ordering anyone around. I thought it would be a smart idea to split up, so I suggested we do it. We are all equals here-"

"No!" he shouted, cutting me off. "We are not equal! I am your superior in every way!"

"Get out of the way Percy," a voice commanded from behind me. Turning around, I saw Jason, his eyes burning with barely-controlled rage. "I knew he would betray us. Egyptians are snakes! They cannot be trusted!" He pulled out his gladius, wind beginning to swirl around him.

"Calm down, both of you!" I shouted. "You aren't acting like yourselves! Something has to be influencing you."

"I am not being influenced by anything," Jason snapped, hate and rage raising his voice. "For the first time I see completely clearly."

"I cannot be influenced," Carter countered, spite dripping off his words. "I am Egypt, I am magic!" Glowing hieroglyphs began to appear in the air around him as he drew out his khopesh. "I will not be insulted by a Roman insect!"

I stood there, not knowing what to do. Two of the four members of our quest were at each other's throats, and I was alone, standing between them. If I was going to stop this, I was going to need some serious help, and there was none in sight.

. . . . .

**JAMES**

I raced to where we left the boat, John's last words ringing through my head. "Your friends are in great danger," he had said. When I had asked, he told me they were in danger from themselves. What was that supposed to mean? What was happening? What had they gotten themselves into?

I turned the corner into the parking lot to find a clash of giants. Jason was floating in the air, a small tornado surrounding him, lightning flaring off of his golden gladius. Across from him, Carter had surrounded himself in energy, which appeared to have taken the shape of a giant chicken-headed man that moved with Carter, and wielded a massive version of his curved blade. Between the two of them Percy stood, channeling two massive streams of water from a nearby fire hydrant, blasting them at both of the combatants, keeping them apart.

"What is going on!?" I shouted over the howl of the wind and the roar of the water.

"They're trying to kill each other!" Percy shouted back. "Help me separate them!"

I focused to try and use my telekinetic abilities again, but instead I realized I could see something hovering over both of them, a darkness clouding their minds. Without thinking I walked forward, my stride confident. "Begone!"I commanded with a voice of thunder. For a moment it seemed I was outside of myself, watching my body from above, in no control of my actions. My eyes were glowing with pure white light. "Get the hence!" the voice commanded with my mouth. "Remove thyself from these mortals, or face the wrath of Heaven!"

For a moment the clouds of darkness seemed to quiver, and then they vanished. Carter and Jason both fell to the ground unconscious. A few moments later I followed suit.

. . . . .

**SADIE**

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Uncle Amos as we stood in the woods outside where our scryers believed the camp to be. "Couldn't we at least speak to them first?"

"Have you ever heard the story of the Trojan horse?" he replied. He continued without waiting for my response. "The Greeks failed to breech the impenetrable walls of Troy, and so instead they hatched a plan. They built a massive wooden horse and presented it to the Trojans as a gift of surrender. The Trojans brought the horse into the city, and when night fell the Greek army poured out of the horse, slaughtering the entire city. This shows why Greeks cannot be trusted. They are clever and will use every tool at their disposal to find a way around your strongest defenses. If we try to negotiate with them they will find our weaknesses and use them against us. Egypt fell before Greece once before, I will not allow it to happen again."

He slammed his staff on the ground, shouting "!" A portal opened in the air, and the magicians of the First Nome of the House of Life poured out. Another portal opened, and then another, until the magicians of nearly every Nome were present. "Let us see whether or not the Greeks' shield can withstand the magical might of the House of Life."

I gulped quietly, hoping desperately that we weren't doing to wrong thing. "You better be in there, Carter," I muttered. "And please still be alive."

. . . . .

**ANNABETH**

I stood over the table, looking over our battle strength. All of our campers had been brought back to camp, and the Party Ponies, a crazy gang of centaurs with boxing-glove arrows and beer hats were running around messing up the camp as part of their "battle preparations". The Argo II was almost ready for combat, and all the camp's siege weaponry were prepped and ready. The Hephaestus cabin was hard at work at the forges, the Demeter kids were preparing foodstuffs, and the rest of the camp was readying for battle. As soon as the Romans arrived, we would be ready for anything.

I took a moment away from preparing the battle as Percy came to my mind. Where was he now? Was he alright? Up until this point, we had always gone on quests together. From our very first quest up to the war against Gaea and the giants, we had always stood together. Now we were separated, him going off after Rachael's most recent prophecy, me preparing the camp for a war against an unknown enemy.

"Annabeth!" called Leo's excited voice. "They're here!"

"Who's here?" I shouted back.

"A bunch of old guys with beards and robes and really big sticks," he answered.

I went over to investigate, and saw that standing there before the protective ward around camp was an army of people dressed in robes. While there were women and teenagers in the mix, most of them were in fact old bearded men. Many of them held long staffs while others wielded bent swords similar to the one Carter used.

"They're magicians," Chiron said from behind me. "From the House of Life. Apparently they are under the impression that we kidnapped Carter."

"Did you talk to them?" I asked.

"I tried to," he answered. "They seem to have a very negative view of Greeks. They wouldn't listen to me."

"What are they trying to do?" I questioned. "They can't get through the barrier."

"That's what they are trying to fix," he replied. The magical barrier rippled, hieroglyphs glowing in the air above the sorcerers. "You are going to need to gather our forces, Annabeth. There will be battle long before our Roman friends find their way here."

. . . . .

**JASON**

I woke up, rubbing the growing bump on the back of my head. "What happened?" I inquired, looking around. Carter and James both lay on the ground unconscious while Percy stood up, looking down at us.

"You and Carter tried to kill each other," Percy answered. "I tried to keep you two apart, and then James came, his eyes glowed and he spoke all angel-like, and all three of you fell unconscious."

"I tried to kill Carter?" I asked in shock. "Why?"

"You were being manipulated," a voice from behind me answered. Both Percy and I turned to see a tan man with dark curly hair dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans.

"Who are you supposed to be?" I asked.

"My name is John," he answered. "I already spoke with your friend James, but your predicament interrupted our conversation. You and Carter were being manipulated by two of the Seven Deadly Sins, Carter by Pride and you by Wrath."

"That would explain the behavior," Percy commented.

"The Sins are some of the most powerful of demons, but they are not the greatest danger, not by far. Like all demons, they simply serve a greater master."

"If they aren't the greatest danger," I began, "then what is?"

John suddenly looked into the distance, as if he had heard a shout from that direction. "I need to leave, but before I do, know that you need to go to Vatican City in Rome. Long ago I had a vision from the Lord that showed me the end of the world, also known as the Apocalypse. I wrote this vision down in what would become known as the Book of Revelations. The forces of Hell are trying to bring about the Apocalypse before the proper time, and thus change the outcome. In the Vatican vaults you will find weapons that you can use in your battle against them. But you must hurry, time is running out. The first Horseman of the Apocalypse has already risen, and I fear the others will soon follow."

"And who is that?" I asked. "Who is this horseman?"

"War."

. . . . .

The Egyptian sorcerers attacked the magical barrier protecting Camp Half-Blood. Inside the camp the young demigods and their allies prepared for a battle unlike any they had ever seen. Over in the western end of the continent the Roman legion mobilized, marching to the aid of their Greek friends. Other  
factions moved into position as well, demons as well as those who hunted them. Watching it all was a single man.

He sat atop a steed, a horse with blistering red flesh and a wild mane of crimson flames. The steed was adorned in spiked black armor, hate-filled flames in place of where eyes should have been. The rider of the steed dressed in similar cruel armor, a massive great sword strapped to his back, among a host of other cruel and deadly weapons.

"Good," he declared, letting out a rumbling laugh. "Let the War of the Gods begin."

Author's Note: Thus ends War of the Gods: The Quest Begins. In the next installment of the series, War of the Gods: Wrath of the Horsemen, our heroes journey to Vatican City, where they hope to find weapons powerful enough to help them defeat the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But with War already on the move, will they be able to procure the weapons before the Greeks and Egyptians destroy each other completely? What other forces are at play here? See it all in War of the Gods: Wrath of the Horsemen.

P.S. Nothing has happened so far on the mystical side of things. The magical realms are, for the most part, keeping to themselves, and there don't seem to be any difficulties arising from any alternate realities. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to get the feeling that this is the calm before the storm. So, basically just like every other period of calm I've had the pleasure to experience. If I suddenly stop writing for a bit or leave this series for a while, it will be because something crazy happened on the magical side of my life. Sorry for any possible future inconvenience that might cause.


End file.
